Healthcare-Associated-Infections (HAIs) in personal care homes can lead to increased costs to an organization. HAIs can easily spread when there is:

• Improper hand hygiene
• Lack of an infection control program
• Inadequate surveillance and disease reporting
• Absence or limited use of PPE
• Lack of signage posted in the facility regarding cough etiquette
• Improper use of antibiotics
• Insufficient training for healthcare workers who are administering injections or carrying out point of care testing
• Absence of a formal policy on environmental cleaning

To help prevent instances of healthcare-associated infections, the Center for Disease Control has created a new tool for assessing infection control programs and practices in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. If you don’t have a self-assessment tool for infection control, here is a resource developed by the Center for Disease Control for you to use.